Monday, April 28, 2014

My New Favorite Helpful Tips

by Kate Collins

Just yesterday, while in an organizational frame of mind -- okay, it's actually revision avoidance -- I installed two little Command hooks under my bathroom cabinet and got a few items out of the way that were cluttering the bottom. I ran out of hooks before I ran out of clutter, so they're now on my grocery list. I love those hooks because they don't leave holes.

Then today, as I was searching for a topic for this blog, I happened to see the Alton Brown video of his organization idea. If you missed it (it's on Yahoo), he used the bottom of an egg carton to store his almost empty mustard containers upside down. The mustard drains to the top (on the bottom), ready to be squeezed out. It would work for any plastic container.

Voila! A topic! I have just a few tips of my own, with photos, and I'm hoping you'll share one of your favorites.
The first photo is, of course, inside my bathroom cabinet. Much neater on the bottom now, isn't it? I have plans to organize under my kitchen cabinet next.

The second photo goes with my second tip, which I discovered when I was trying to squeeze out the last half inch of dish detergent. I added water and shook it up. One squeeze is all it takes to wash a sink full of dishes, so I'm even thinking that from now on, when my bottle is half empty, I'll fill it up to the top with water. I always squirt in too much anyway. Problem solved.

The last photo is of my cool, brushed nickel framed art print that coordinate with my brushed nickel faucets and cabinet handles. Where did you find a brushed nickel frame, you ask? In a can at one of the big box craft stores. For under $5, I sprayed it on instead of spending a lot of money to have one made.

The idea came after I finally found an art print that complimented my sea foam colors. The problem was that it had an ugly black frame and matting. So I cut the brown paper off the back, took the print out, and spray painted the frame and mat. If you look very closely (I hope you won't) you'll see it needs a second coat. But as I'm the only one in the bathroom, I'm not going to complain if it doesn't get done.

So there are four helpful (I hope) tips for you. Do you have any to share?